1. Field
The subject matter described herein relates generally to online services and, more particularly, to user content access management and control of user information residing in computer software.
2. Background Information
Online services are becoming more prevalent. Users of very young ages to very old ages are communicating with each other using one or more online services, as well as storing information and data online (e.g., storing and backing up data, sharing images and videos, etc.).
After online services are first used, however, users do not always continue to access the services. For example, a user may abandon or stop using one image sharing site and start using another image sharing site. A user may stop using a college-focused service after graduation from college. A user may die or be incapacitated and cease accessing online services. Additionally, many online services are accessible through applications installed on mobile devices, which are then authorized to access these online services. However, mobile devices are susceptible to being lost, damaged, or stolen resulting in an authorization no longer accessible to the user of the account.
These inactive accounts (“zombie accounts”), inaccessible authorizations (“zombie authorizations”), no longer used applications (“zombie applications”), and lost, damaged, or stolen devices (“zombie devices”) (collectively referred to herein as “subscriptions”) can pose a burden on system infrastructure as resources must be used to support subscriptions that are no longer active. Further, these subscriptions may also pose a potential source for breaches of the user's privacy (i.e. person information, financial information, private date, etc.) if the subscriptions become susceptible to third party access. Further, these subscriptions may also continue to take actions, such as posting automatic updates, sending automatic replies, or indicating a user's support for goods and services.
Zombie accounts that have scheduled activity or apps that can act on a user's behalf may make it appear that the user is still alive and active, causing great trauma to the recipients of messages or viewers of social media posts (e.g. deceased user's account, application, or mobile device continuing to auto post to their wall that they've been using an app for 2 full years on the apps anniversary because it was scheduled by the app in advance). Thus, there is a need for identifying and categorizing subscriptions that have become inactive so that subsequent actions may be taken.